Systems and methods to configure pin pad for additional payment vehicle types

ABSTRACT

A method of network configuration of a personal identification number (PIN) pads includes receiving a request to upgrade a PIN pad from a merchant or an individual software vendor (ISV) to read microprocessor-enabled or contactless payment vehicles, retrieving a PIN pad configuration hash value from the PIN pad, obtaining current configuration using the hash value, sending instructions to the PIN pad to upgrade the PIN pad over a network if the PIN pad is capable of reading microprocessor-enabled or contactless payment vehicles, and downloading and installing drivers to enable PIN pad readers to read and process at least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless payment vehicles according to the instructions. The method further performs additional operations such as updating the PIN pad registry with the PIN pad configuration and enabling the PIN pad to read the microprocessor-enabled or contactless payment vehicles.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This patent application is a continuation of and claims the benefit ofpriority to U.S. application Ser. No. 16/225,317, filed on Dec. 19,2018, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally toelectronic payment processing and, more particularly, to managing theconfiguration of personal identification number (PIN) pad terminalsassociated with a merchant point of sale (POS).

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, merchants and other store owners have point of sale (POS)terminals that can accept check or payment card from consumers for goodsand services. Such POS systems may include PIN pads at which a consumermay enter payment and/or personal information in order to completepayment processing requests for purchases. PIN pads may be controlledaccording to configurations relating to user interaction, connections tomerchant and/or payment processor systems and networks, security andauthentication, etc. The types of payment vehicles containing newmechanisms such as embedded microprocessor chips to securely pay usingthe PIN pad are rapidly increasing. Similarly, PIN pad devices may needto be upgraded to accept contactless payment from smart phones.Upgrading a PIN pad for payment vehicles embedded with microprocessors(e.g., EMV chip payment cards) and contactless configuration, mayrequire independent software vendors (ISVs) or merchants to manuallyload these configurations on the PIN pad devices. Such configurationsmay be updated periodically, and a PIN pad may not operate correctly ifan out-of-date configuration is in use. Configuring the PIN pad devicesto accept payment vehicles involving latest technology may be complexand time consuming and/or may be performed by systems outside of themerchant's environment.

Manually upgrading and installing these configurations on the PIN padmay prevent the PIN pad from being available to a merchant for asubstantial amount of time, causing frustration, and dissatisfaction tothe merchant and consumers, and possibly leading to a loss of revenuefor the merchant. Additionally, merchants may want to enable or disableservice to accept the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles orcontactless payment without having to manually change settings of thePIN pad. For example, there may be circumstances in which a contactlessservice is not working properly or the PIN pad is not able to read themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles. In such scenarios, ISVs ormerchants would like to disable such services on the PIN pad right awaywithout having to manually change settings on the PIN pad.

Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that allows the PINpad to request, receive, and install a new upgrades and up-to-dateconfiguration automatically over wireless network without removing PINpad from its current setting at the merchant.

The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of theseabove-referenced challenges.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to certain aspects of the disclosure, systems and methods aredisclosed for configuring personal identification number (PIN) pads formicroprocessor-enabled and contactless payment vehicles.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method is disclosed forconfiguring a PIN pads for microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles. The method includes: receiving, from apoint of sale system over a computer network, a request to upgrade a PINpad for reading at least one of a microprocessor-enabled payment vehicleand a contactless payment vehicle, retrieving a PIN pad configurationhash value from the PIN pad, further obtaining, using a configurationprocessor, current configuration information associated with the PIN padconfiguration hash value from a PIN pad registry, and evaluating, usingthe configuration processor, whether the PIN pad is capable of readingat least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and thecontactless payment vehicle.

In the above illustrated embodiment, the computer-implemented method forconfiguring the PIN pads for microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles further includes: generating, upondetermining that the PIN pad is capable of reading at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactless paymentvehicle, using the configuration processor, configuration instructionsto upgrade the PIN pad for reading at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactless paymentvehicles; sending, over the computer network, the configurationinstructions to the PIN pad to upgrade the PIN pad for reading at leastone of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactlesspayment vehicle; and configuring, using a hardware processor of the PINpad, at least one of PIN pad readers to read and process at least one ofthe microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactless paymentvehicle according to the configuration instructions.

In the above exemplary embodiment, the method further includes:updating, using the configuration processor, the PIN pad's currentconfiguration information in the PIN pad registry; generating, at thePIN pad registry, a new hash for the updated PIN pad configuration; andtransmitting the new hash to the PIN pad to be stored at the PIN pad.The method further includes sending, as a result of evaluating that thePIN pad is upgraded for at least one of the microprocessor-enabledpayment vehicles and contactless payment vehicles, using theconfiguration processor, using the configuration processor, anotification that the PIN pad is ready is sent to the point of salesystem, setting a state of the PIN pad as ready.

In accordance with another embodiment, the method further includes:sending, upon determining that the PIN pad cannot be upgraded forreading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle andthe contactless payment vehicle, using the configuration processor, anotification to the point of sale system.

In accordance with another embodiment, a method for enabling a PIN padsfor microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles, the method includes: receiving, from a point of sale system,over a computer network, a request to enable a PIN pad for reading atleast one of a microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and a contactlesspayment vehicle; retrieving, over the computer network, a PIN padconfiguration hash value from the PIN pad; obtaining, using aconfiguration processor, current configuration information associatedwith the PIN pad configuration hash value from a PIN pad registry; andevaluating, using the configuration processor, whether the PIN pad isconfigured and disabled for reading at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactless paymentvehicles.

In the above illustrated embodiment, the method further includes:generating, as a result of determining that the PIN pad is configuredand disabled to read at least one of the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicle and the contactless payment vehicle, instructions to enable thePIN pad for reading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles and contactless payment vehicles; sending, over the computernetwork, configuration instructions to the PIN pad to enable the PIN padfor reading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicleand the contactless payment vehicle; enabling, using a hardwareprocessor of the PIN pad, PIN pad readers to read and process at leastone of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle and the contactlesspayment vehicle according to the configuration instructions; andaccepting, at least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicleand the contactless payment vehicle at the enabled PIN pad. In the aboveexemplary embodiment, the method further includes: updating, using theconfiguration processor, the PIN pad's current configuration;generating, using the configuration processor, a new hash for theupdated PIN pad configuration; and transmitting the new hash to the PINpad to be stored at the PIN pad.

Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will beset forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will beapparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of thedisclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages of the disclosedembodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. As will beapparent from the embodiments below, an advantage to the disclosedsystems and methods is that multiple parties may fully utilize theirdata without allowing others to have direct access to raw data. It is tobe understood that both the foregoing general description and thefollowing detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only andare not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of thedisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a electronic payment processingsystem.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system infrastructure for PIN padconfiguration using a computer network, according to one or moreembodiments.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method for network configuration of PINpads, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of a method for enabling networkconfiguration of PIN pads, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example computing environment, accordingto one or more embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally toelectronic payment infrastructure and to managing the configuration ofpersonal identification number (PIN) pad terminals associated with amerchant point of sale (POS) environment.

The terminology used below may be interpreted in its broadest reasonablemanner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific examples of the present disclosure.Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, anyterminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will beovertly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Descriptionsection.

Turning to FIG. 1, traditionally, in an electronic payment processingsystem, a consumer 102, during the checkout process at a merchant 110,may pay for goods or services at merchant 110 on a PIN Pad 114 connectedwith a POS terminal 112. Consumer 102 may use a payment card for paymentand the transaction may be processed through a payment environment 100.Consumer 102 may submit payment information at PIN Pad 114 connected toPOS terminal 112 of merchant 110, such as by swiping his or her paymentcard, inserting his or her chip-based payment card, through wirelessnear field communication (NFC), etc., or by any other suitable means.PIN Pad 114 sends a payment request by way of a computer network 125 toan acquirer processor 130. Alternatively, such a request may be sent bya component that controls a flow of a transaction, such as a point ofsale (POS) engine 250, as depicted in FIG. 2. Acquirer processor 130 mayrequest, by way of payment network 120, an electronic transfer of fundsfrom the received funds to the financial institution 140 associated withmerchant 110. Merchant 110 may provide an infrastructure for processingelectronic payment requests.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system infrastructure for configuring PINpad 114 using network environment, according to one or more embodiments.As shown in FIG. 2, an infrastructure 200 processing electronic paymentrequests may include one or more point of sale (POS) devices 112, whichmay be in communication with a POS engine 250, and one or more personalidentification number (PIN) pad terminals 114, which may be incommunication with a socket gateway 210. In one or more embodiments, anISV 280 may be in communication with POS engine 250 for the purposes ofconfiguring PIN pad terminals 114. POS engine 250 may be embodied, forexample, as middleware that may command and control the PIN pad and maysend a payment request. This may be embodied as a semi-integratedsolution and may further control the PIN pad 114 on behalf of the POSdevice software. Such control may include controlling a transaction flowor sequence including, for example, prompting for payment card swipe orinsert, sending a transaction request for authorization, prompting for aconsumer signature, etc. Infrastructure 200 may further include a PINpad actor 240, a configuration service 220, a PIN pad registry 230 and aPIN pad database 235. Socket gateway 210 may send commands to one ormore PIN pad(s) and may receive responses from the PIN pad(s). PIN padactor 240 may provide a virtual representation of the PIN pad 114 andmay maintain a current state of the PIN pad 114. Configuration service220 may, if necessary, configures the PIN pad 114 upon connection of thePIN pad 114 to the infrastructure. PIN pad registry 230 and PIN paddatabase 235 maintain configuration data associating each PIN pad 114.

According to one or more embodiments, the components of infrastructure200 may be connected by a computer network 260, such as, for example alocal area network (LAN) or a wireless network, such as, for example, aWiFi network. However, other network connections among the components ofinfrastructure 200 may be used, such as, for example, a wide areanetwork (WAN), the internet, or the cloud. According to one or moreembodiments, the components of infrastructure 200 may operate tomaintain a configuration of PIN pads 114. Methods of configuring PINpads 114 according to one or more embodiments will be discussed withrespect to FIGS. 3-5 below. Functions of the components ofinfrastructure 200 will be described below with respect to exemplarymethods for network configuration of PIN pads.

Any suitable system infrastructure may be put into place for networkconfiguration of PIN pads. FIGS. 1 and 2 and the discussion aboveprovide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environmentin which the present disclosure may be implemented. In one embodiment,any of the disclosed systems, methods, and/or graphical user interfacesmay be executed by or implemented by a computing system consistent withor similar to that depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. Although not required,aspects of the present disclosure are described in the context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as routines executed by a dataprocessing device, e.g., a server computer, wireless device, and/orpersonal computer. Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciatethat aspects of the present disclosure can be practiced with othercommunications, data processing, or computer system configurations,including: Internet appliances, hand-held devices (including personaldigital assistants (“PDAs”)), wearable computers, all manner of cellularor mobile phones (including Voice over IP (“VoIP”) phones), dumbterminals, media players, gaming devices, virtual reality devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframecomputers, and the like. Indeed, the terms “computer,” “server,” and thelike, are generally used interchangeably herein, and refer to any of theabove devices and systems, as well as any data processor.

Aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a special purposecomputer and/or data processor that is specifically programmed,configured, and/or constructed to perform one or more of thecomputer-executable instructions explained in detail herein. Whileaspects of the present disclosure, such as certain functions, aredescribed as being performed exclusively on a single device, the presentdisclosure may also be practiced in distributed environments wherefunctions or modules are shared among disparate processing devices,which are linked through a communications network, such as a Local AreaNetwork (“LAN”), Wide Area Network (“WAN”), and/or the Internet.Similarly, techniques presented herein as involving multiple devices maybe implemented in a single device. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and/or remotememory storage devices.

Aspects of the present disclosure may be stored and/or distributed onnon-transitory computer-readable media, including magnetically oroptically readable computer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips(e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biologicalmemory, or other data storage media. Alternatively, computer implementedinstructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data underaspects of the present disclosure may be distributed over the Internetand/or over other networks (including wireless networks), on apropagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagneticwave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time, and/or they may beprovided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuitswitched, or other scheme).

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for configuring PIN pads formicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles. In operation 310, POS 112 or ISV 280 may request an upgradefor PIN pad 114 to enable support for microprocessor-enabled orcontactless payment vehicles. The request to upgrade the PIN padconfiguration may be received at configuration service 220 through POSengine 250 and PIN pad actor 240 according to operation 320. Inoperation 330, configuration service 220 may obtain a current PIN padconfiguration from the PIN pad 114 through socket gateway 210. Theconfiguration service 220 may obtain the current PIN pad configurationinformation based on a PIN pad configuration hash value. The PIN padconfiguration information obtained from PIN pad 114 may be stored in aPIN pad database 235 by PIN pad registry 230. Configuration service 220may further evaluate whether the PIN pad 114 can be upgraded to becapable of reading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles or contactless payment vehicles according to operation 340.

In the above exemplary embodiment, the configuration service 220 mayevaluate in operation 340 whether the PIN pad is capable of reading atleast one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactlesspayment vehicles and whether the PIN pad is configured to read the atleast one of microprocessor-enabled or contactless payment vehicles. Inoperation 350, upon determining that the PIN pad may be upgraded to readthe at least one of microprocessor-enabled or contactless paymentvehicles, the configuration service 220 may generate instructions toupgrade the PIN pad and may send the instructions to the PIN pad usingsocket gateway 210 in operation 352. PIN pad 114 may receive theinstructions and may configure the PIN pad readers to read and processthe microprocessor-enabled and contactless payment vehicles according tooperation 354. Configuration operation 354 may include downloading andinstalling, over the computer network, drivers to enable at least one ofPIN pad readers to read and process at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless payment vehiclesaccording to the provided instructions.

Once PIN pad 114 is configured to accept microprocessor-enabled andcontactless payment vehicles, the configuration service 220 may updatethe PIN pad's current configuration information in the PIN pad registryin operation 356. In operation 358, configuration service 220 mayfurther generate a new hash for the upgraded PIN pad configuration inoperation 358. In operation 360, configuration service 220 may furthertransmit the new hash to the PIN pad to be stored on the PIN pad 114.

In an another embodiment, upon determining that the current version ofPIN pad 114 cannot be upgraded to be capable of readingmicroprocessor-enabled or contactless payment vehicles, configurationservice 220 may send notification to POS 112 or to ISV 280, or both.

In a yet another example embodiment, upon determining that the PIN pad114 is already upgraded for microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles orcontactless payment vehicles, configuration service 220 may providenotification to POS 112 or to ISV 280, or both, that PIN pad 114 is inready state and is upgraded for at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles. In the above example embodiments, the configuration service220 may comprise one or more configuration processor(s) and PIN pad 114may comprise one or more hardware processor(s).

FIG. 4 illustrates a method for enabling the PIN pads formicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles. In operation 410, POS 112 or ISV 280 may request enabling PINpad 114 to support microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles. Configuration service 220, may receive therequest from POS 112 or ISV 280 through POS engine 250 and PIN pad actor240 to enable the PIN pad to accept at least one ofmicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles. At operation 420, configuration service 220 may retrieve a PINpad configuration hash value from PIN pad 114 through socket gateway210. In operation 430, the configuration service 220 may obtain thecurrent configuration associated with the PIN pad configuration hashvalue. In operation 440, configuration service 220 may determine whetherPIN pad 114 is configured for reading at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless payment vehiclesbut that such capability is disabled.

In operation 450, upon determining that PIN pad 114 is configured forreading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles but that such capability is disabled,configuration service 220 may generate instructions to enable PIN pad114 for reading at least one of microprocessor-enabled payment vehiclesand contactless payment vehicles. Configuration service 220 may send theinstructions to enable PIN pad 114 for reading at least one ofmicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles, over the computer network, according to operation 452.

In operation 454, after receiving instructions to enable PIN pad 114 forreading at least one of microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles, over the computer network, the hardwareprocessor of PIN pad 114 may enable PIN pad 114 readers to read andprocess at least one of microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles andcontactless payment vehicles. Once PIN 114 pad is enabled for reading atleast one of microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactlesspayment vehicles, PIN pad 114 may begin accepting at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless payment vehiclesat enabled PIN pad 114.

In operation 456, once PIN pad 114 is enabled for reading at least oneof microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles, configuration service 220 may update the current configurationinformation for PIN pad 114 in PIN pad registry 230. PIN pad registry230 may generate a new hash for the enabled configuration for PIN pad114 in operation 458. Furthermore, configuration service 220 maytransmit the new hash to PIN pad 114 to be stored at PIN pad 114 inoperation 460.

In an exemplary embodiment, upon determining that PIN pad 114 cannot beenabled for reading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles and contactless payment vehicles, configuration processor 220may send a notification to POS 112 or to ISV 280, or both.

In a yet another embodiment, upon determining that PIN pad 114 isenabled for reading at least one of the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles and contactless payment vehicles, configuration processor 220may provide notification to POS 112 or to ISV 280, or both, that PIN pad114 is in a ready state and is enabled for reading at least one of themicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles.

In the above illustrated embodiment, the microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles may include, for example, payment cards using computer chips toauthenticate transactions according to Europay, MasterCard, and Visa(EMV) global standard. The contactless payment vehicles may include, forexample, either EMV or NFC compatible payment cards. The PIN padconfiguration information may be stored in a PIN pad database 235 by aPIN pad registry 230.

The systems and processes described above may be performed on or betweenone or more computing devices, e.g. configuration service. FIG. 5illustrates an example computing device. A computing device 500 may be aserver, a computing device that is integrated with other systems orsubsystems, a mobile computing device such as a smart phone, acloud-based computing ability, and so forth. The computing device 500may be any suitable computing device as would be understood in the art,including without limitation, a custom chip, and embedded processingdevice, a tablet computing device, a POS terminal associated with themerchant 110, a back-office system of a merchant 110, a personal dataassistant (PDA), a desktop, laptop, microcomputer, and minicomputer, aserver, a mainframe, or any other suitable programmable device. Invarious embodiments disclosed herein, a single component may be replacedby multiple components and multiple components may be replaced by singlecomponent to perform a given function or functions. Except where suchsubstitution would not be operative, such substitution is within theintended scope of the embodiments.

The computing device 500 may include a processor 510 that may be anysuitable type of processing unit, for example a general-purpose centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computer (RISC), aprocessor that has a pipeline or multiple processing capabilityincluding having multiple cores, a complex instruction set computer(CISC), a digital signal processor (DSP), application specificintegrated circuits (ASIC), a programmable logic devices (PLD), and afield programmable gate array (FPGA), among others. The computingresources may also include distributed computing devices, cloudcomputing resources, and virtual computing resources in general.

The computing device 500 may also include one or more memories 530, forexample read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memoryassociated with the processor 510, or other memory such as dynamic RAM(DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), programmable ROM (PROM), electricallyerasable PROM (EEPROM), flash memory, a removable memory card or disc, asolid-state drive, and so forth. The computing device 500 also includesstorage media such as a storage device that may be configured to havemultiple modules, such as magnetic disk drives, floppy drives, tapedrives, hard drives, optical drives and media, magneto-optical drivesand media, compact disk drives, Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM),compact disc recordable (CD-R), Compact Disk Rewritable (CD-RW), asuitable type of Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or BluRay disc, and soforth. Storage media such as flash drives, solid-state hard drives,redundant array of individual discs (RAID), virtual drives, networkeddrives and other memory means including storage media on the processor510, or memories 530 are also contemplated as storage devices. It may beappreciated that such memory may be internal or external with respect tooperation of the disclosed embodiments. It may be appreciated thatcertain portions of the processes described herein may be performedusing instructions stored on a computer readable medium or media thatdirect computer system to perform the process steps. Non-transitorycomputable-readable media, as used herein, comprises allcomputer-readable media except for transitory, propagating signals.

Networking communication interfaces 540 may be configured to transmitto, or receive data from, other computing devices 500 across a network560. The network and communication interfaces 540 may be, for example,an Ethernet interface, a radio interface, a Universal Serial Bus (USB)interface, or any other suitable communications interface and mayinclude receivers, transmitter, and transceivers. For purposes ofclarity, a transceiver may be referred to as a receiver or a transmitterwhen referring to only the input or only the output functionality of thetransceiver. Example communication interfaces 540 may include wire datatransmission links such as Ethernet and TCP/IP. The communicationinterfaces 540 may include wireless protocols for interfacing withprivate or public networks 560. For example, the network andcommunication interfaces 608 and protocols may include interfaces forcommunicating with private wireless networks such as Wi-Fi network, oneof the IEEE 802.11x family of networks, or another suitable wirelessnetwork. The network and communication interfaces 540 may includeinterfaces and protocols for communicating with public wireless networks560, using for example wireless protocols used by cellular networkproviders, including Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and GlobalSystem for Mobile Communications (GSM). A computing device 500 may usenetwork and communication interfaces 540 to communicate with hardwaremodules such as a database or data store, or one or more servers orother networked computing resources. Data may be encrypted or protectedfrom unauthorized access.

In various configurations, the computing device 500 may include a systembus 610 for interconnecting the various components of the computingdevice 500, or the computing device 500 may be integrated into one ormore chips such as programmable logic device or application specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). The system bus 550 may include a memorycontroller, a local bus, or a peripheral bus for supporting input andoutput devices 520, and communication interfaces 560. Example input andoutput devices 520 include keyboards, keypads, gesture or graphicalinput devices, motion input devices, touchscreen interfaces, one or moredisplays, audio units, voice recognition units, vibratory devices,computer mice, and any other suitable user interface.

The processor 510 and memory 530 may include nonvolatile memory forstoring computable-readable instructions, data, data structures, programmodules, code, microcode, and other software components for storing thecomputer-readable instructions in non-transitory computable-readablemediums in connection with the other hardware components for carryingout the methodologies described herein. Software components may includesource code, compiled code, interpreted code, executable code, staticcode, dynamic code, encrypted code, or any other suitable type of codeor computer instructions implemented using any suitable high-level,low-level, object-oriented, visual, compiled, or interpreted programminglanguage.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for configuring a personalidentification number (PIN) pads for microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles and contactless payment vehicles, the method comprising:receiving, at an acquirer processor or independent software vendor (ISV)from a point of sale system over a computer network, a request toupgrade a PIN pad for processing payment transactions using anadditional payment vehicle type not supported by the PIN pad; obtaining,from a PIN pad actor using a configuration processor, currentconfiguration information associated with the PIN pad, wherein the PINpad actor provides a virtual representation of a PIN pad; evaluating,using the configuration processor based on the current configurationinformation, whether the PIN pad can process payment transactions usingthe additional payment vehicle type; and upon determining that the PINpad cannot process payment transactions using the additional paymentvehicle type, using the configuration processor to generate and transmita notification to the ISV.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating, upon determining that the PIN pad can process paymenttransactions using the additional payment vehicle type, using theconfiguration processor, configuration instructions to upgrade the PINpad for processing payment transactions using the additional paymentvehicle type; sending, over the computer network, the configurationinstructions to the PIN pad to upgrade the PIN pad for processingpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type; andconfiguring, using a hardware processor of the PIN pad, at least one ofPIN pad readers to processing payment transactions using the additionalpayment vehicle type according to the configuration instructions.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising: updating, using the configurationprocessor, the PIN pad's current configuration information in a PIN padregistry; generating, at the PIN pad registry, a new hash for theupdated PIN pad configuration; and transmitting the new hash to the PINpad to be stored at the PIN pad.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theadditional payment vehicle type is a microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicle or a contactless payment vehicle.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein the configuring the PIN pad comprises downloading andinstalling, over the computer network, drivers to enable PIN pad readersto processing payment transactions using the additional payment vehicletype according to the configuration instructions.
 6. The method of claim1, further comprising: sending, upon determining that the PIN pad iscannot process payment transactions using the additional payment vehicletype, using the configuration processor, a notification to the point ofsale system.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, upondetermining that the PIN pad can and is configured for processingpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type, usingthe configuration processor, a notification to the point of sale systemthat PIN pad is in a ready state.
 8. A method for enabling a personalidentification number (PIN) pads for microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicles and contactless payment vehicles, the method comprising:receiving, at an acquirer processor or independent software vendor (ISV)from a point of sale system over a computer network, a request to enablea PIN pad configuration for processing payment transactions using anadditional payment vehicle type not supported by the PIN pad; obtaining,from a PIN pad actor using a configuration processor, currentconfiguration information associated with the PIN pad, wherein the PINpad actor provides a virtual representation of a PIN pad; evaluating,using the configuration processor based on the current configurationinformation, whether the PIN pad can and is disabled for processingpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type; and upondetermining that the PIN pad can and is disabled for processing processpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type, usingthe configuration processor to generate and transmit a notification tothe ISV.
 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: generating, upondetermining that the PIN pad can process payment transactions using theadditional payment vehicle type, using the configuration processor,configuration instructions to upgrade the PIN pad for processing paymenttransactions using the additional payment vehicle type; sending, overthe computer network, the configuration instructions to the PIN pad toupgrade the PIN pad for processing payment transactions using theadditional payment vehicle type; enabling, using a hardware processor ofthe PIN pad, at least one of PIN pad readers to processing paymenttransactions using the additional payment vehicle type according to theinstructions; and accepting, payment transactions using the additionalpayment vehicle type at the enabled PIN pad.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising: updating, using the configuration processor, the PINpad's current configuration information in a PIN pad registry;generating, at the PIN pad registry, a new hash for the updated PIN padconfiguration; and transmitting the new hash to the PIN pad to be storedat the PIN pad.
 11. The method of claim 8, further comprising: sending,as a result of evaluating that the PIN pad cannot process paymenttransactions using the additional payment vehicle type, using theconfiguration processor, a notification to the point of sale system. 12.The method of claim 8, further comprising: sending, as a result ofevaluating that the PIN pad can process payment transactions using theadditional payment vehicle type, using the configuration processor, aPIN pad ready status message to the point of sale system.
 13. The methodof claim 10, wherein the additional payment vehicle type is amicroprocessor-enabled payment vehicle or a contactless payment vehicle.14. A computer system configuring a personal identification number (PIN)pads for microprocessor-enabled payment vehicles and contactless paymentvehicles, the system comprising: a memory; and a configuration processorconfigured to: receive, at an acquirer processor or independent softwarevendor (ISV) from a point of sale system over a computer network, arequest to upgrade a PIN pad configuration for processing paymenttransactions using an additional payment vehicle type not supported bythe PIN pad; obtain, from a PIN pad actor using a configurationprocessor, current configuration information associated with the PINpad, wherein the PIN pad actor provides a virtual representation of aPIN pad; evaluate, using the configuration processor based on thecurrent configuration information, whether the PIN pad can processpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type; and upondetermining that the PIN pad cannot process payment transactions usingthe additional payment vehicle type, use the configuration processor togenerate and transmit a notification to the ISV.
 15. The system of claim14, wherein the configuration processor is further configured to:generate, upon determining that the PIN pad can process paymenttransactions using the additional payment vehicle type, using theconfiguration processor, configuration instructions to upgrade the PINpad for processing payment transactions using the additional paymentvehicle type; send, over the computer network, the configurationinstructions to the PIN pad to upgrade the PIN pad for processingpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type; andconfigure, using a hardware processor of the PIN pad, at least one ofPIN pad readers to processing payment transactions using the additionalpayment vehicle type according to the configuration instructions. 16.The system of claim 15, wherein the configuring the PIN pad comprisesdownloading and installing, over the computer network, drivers to enablePIN pad readers to processing payment transactions using the additionalpayment vehicle type according to the configuration instructions. 17.The system of claim 14, wherein the configuration processor is furtherconfigured to: send, upon determining that the PIN pad cannot processpayment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type, usingthe configuration processor, a notification to the point of sale system.18. The computer system of claim 14, wherein the configuration processoris further configured to: send, upon determining that the PIN pad canprocess payment transactions using the additional payment vehicle type,using the configuration processor, a PIN pad ready status message to thepoint of sale system.
 19. The computer system of claim 14, wherein theadditional payment vehicle type is a microprocessor-enabled paymentvehicle or a contactless payment vehicle.
 20. The computer system ofclaim 19, wherein the microprocessor-enabled payment vehicle is apayment card using a computer chip to authenticate transactionsaccording to the Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) global standard.